


In Which Iroh and Toph Hang Out in the Spirit World

by jorlau



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Spirit World, Tea Parties, Toph is a softie really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jorlau/pseuds/jorlau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toph visits Iroh in the Spirit World occasionally. This is a brief look at two such visits.</p><p>Slight Toph/Iroh, even slighter Korrasami.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Iroh and Toph Hang Out in the Spirit World

Iroh was sitting in his favorite chair drinking his favorite ginseng tea when he felt the ground under his feet change. It was subtle, a slight shift in hardness and texture that he might never have noticed if he had not been barefoot, familiar with the sensation, and aware that the event it heralded was overdue. As it was, he smiled happily, stood, and began to bustle around, preparing for his visitor.

“Hi, Iroh,” Toph said, as Iroh placed a pot of _her_ favorite tea (a fermented dark tea with a flavor as earthy as the blind earthbender's soul) on the freshly-set table.

“It's good to see you again, Toph,” Iroh said warmly. “Please, sit down. Have some tea and cake. Tell me how things are going in the physical world.”

Toph plopped unceremoniously into the proffered chair and accepted the tea her friend poured out with a nod of thanks. She took a sip and smiled. “You knew I was coming.”

“I felt the change in the soil,” Iroh placed a plateful of cake in front of her and sat down, taking a cupful of tea for himself.

Toph, to whom the Spirit World always felt pleasantly reminiscent of the caves she had first learned to earthbend in, down to the distribution of trace minerals and the density that made it easy to pick up even the faintest of vibrations, nodded. She took a bite of cake, chewed deliberately, and then washed it down with a sip of tea before speaking again.

“The physical world's a mess,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact, almost indifferent. “Can't find peace and quiet for the life of me. First I had to beat the new Avatar up until she stopped being whiny and got out of my hair. Then I had to rescue my family from some jumped-up kid Su taught metalbending to. They've even been messing with the swamp. My body's hanging out in a cave in the mountains right now. I'm just waiting for someone to hunt me down and try to get me to help them with something else. Huh, physical world. I'm getting tired of it.”

“Avatar Korra's visited me a few times,” Iroh commented. He knew Toph well enough to know that she had probably been delighted to meet Aang's reincarnation and enjoyed her brief bonding time with her family, but he also knew that she liked to grumble and he wasn't about to spoil her pleasure by calling her out.

“You mean I won't even be able to get out of helping her if I move here?” Toph demanded.

“I find her a charming young woman,” Iroh said. “Though I haven't had the chance to spend time with her recently.”

“She's all right,” Toph conceded. “Probably less annoying when she's not–“

She broke off abruptly as a sensation of _ripping_ washed over them. It was as though a crashing sound had entered their awareness without the usual niceties of going through their ears; Toph's feet saw nothing but she was immediately conscious of what had happened, while to Iroh the world distorted around him though his eyes perceived nothing unusual. Then normality, or the Spirit World's equivalent, reasserted itself, and the strange feeling was gone.

“Huh,” Toph said after a moment of intense silence.

“That was interesting,” Iroh said.

“You said it,” Toph agreed. They were both quiet. Toph finished her cake and sat back, sipping her tea while Iroh cut her another slice. (This was not unusual. Over their long friendship, they had shared tea and cake so many times that the only real reason they verbally communicated about food was Iroh's fondness for the pleasantries involved.)

“It's like I was saying,” Toph said when she was halfway through her third piece of cake. “Kids these days have no sense of when to leave well enough alone. I mean, tearing a hole in reality to stop some tin-plated dictator?”

“Toph, you once flattened a whole mountain range to settle a bet,” Iroh pointed out.

“That was different,” Toph protested. “That was me.”

“I think Korra has done quite well,” Iroh persisted.

“I guess I can't complain about her finally doing her Avatar duties, even if her methods could use some work,” Toph said, suddenly agreeable. Iroh raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“You're proud of her,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“If you tell her, I'll kick your spirity old butt,” Toph countered.

“You're nearly as old as me by now,” Iroh pointed out.

“True,” Toph grinned. “But I could still kick your butt.”

“We've been friends for too long to test that now,” Iroh said peaceably.

“Also true,” Toph conceded. “How about we agree that you don't tell Korra and I won't laugh at you next time you decide to give me flowers?”

“That seems reasonable,” said Iroh, who had no intention of gossiping about Toph and found her aggressive mockery of his small romantic gestures endearing.

Toph smirked in a way that made it clear that she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Glad you agree.”

 

By coincidence, it was during Toph's next visit that Korra arrived, hand in hand with a strikingly beautiful young woman whom Iroh had never seen before.

“Hi, Iroh!” Korra said cheerfully. “Hello, Toph, I didn't realize you were here.”

“That's because you don't pay attention,” Toph told her severely. “ _I_ saw you two coming a mile away. “

Korra's companion smiled at this. “We've been a little distracted. I'm Asami. It's nice to meet you both.”

“Hold on,” said Korra slowly, her eyes registering the enormous bouquet at Toph's side (Iroh had decided not to waste his one laugh-free flower-giving, and had gone to extremes). “Are you two....”

“None of your business,” Toph snapped.

Korra looked incredulously from Toph to Iroh, then back. A giggle escaped her, then grew to a full-bodied laugh. Asami looked poker-faced. Iroh, however, joined in the Avatar's merriment.

“Shut up,” grumbled Toph, privately resolving never to make a deal with Iroh again.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't feel like I really got a handle on writing Toph here, but I had fun trying, and that's the main thing.


End file.
